30 November 2015

Dear wonderful people,

This week was great. We had transfers and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Koehler. He's from Utah, which he calls the mothership. I spent a lot of time trying to get him familiar with the area. 

It's kinda scary to take over the whole area. At least we have an awesome new ward mission leader. His name is Samuel. He's from Brazil. We're having our first correlation meeting on Tuesday. I'm really excited.

That's about it, since I don't have much time to write. Here's a spiritual thought.

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8)

The gospel gives us the truth and "the truth shall make you free." So study the gospel and you will learn to understand true freedom. 

Peace out!

Love,

Elder Warburton 

Other news he wrote to me:

Thanksgiving was awesome. We went to an American family and we had a massive dinner. It had everything about thanksgiving that I like. Including PUMPKIN PIE! That was the best. 

I love my new companion. He's just like me, except he doesn't play magic. 

Our investigators are doing well. One of them, Joel, is totally on track to get baptized. 

I still don't need a jacket yet. Everybody thinks that I'm crazy. 

We're singing every carol you can think of and more. It's really fun.

November 24, 2015

This week was really good. We met five new investigators this week. One of them was even Ghanaian. It's too bad that Elder Sowah is getting transferred. He's getting transferred to Wembley. That's the next ward over though, so he's still in my district. 

Not too much happened this week. We had a munch and mingle on Sunday where we met two of our new investigators. We invited them to church, but they were late because they didn't know which bus to take to get to the church. We had a lesson with them after the munch and mingle and we committed them to baptism. They are going to be baptized on the 19th of December.

On Saturday, we had a world wide dance festival with the stake. Every ward had someone present a dance and then they would teach everyone else how to do it. It was really fun. There was also a lot of food. That was the best part.

So. for my spiritual thought. I just finished the Book of Mormon this past week. My message is from the seventh chapter of the book of Moroni.

 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and enviethnot, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easilyprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endurethforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are truefollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

If we are found with charity at the last day, then we won't have to worry about final judgement. We'll be as Christ.

I love you all and I'm glad that I have the chance to serve a mission.

Love,

Elder Warburton

Other news he wrote in his letter to me:

We have lots of new investigators!  This last week was full of finding miracles.  We are having Thanksgiving with one of the American families in the ward.  Not many people celebrate Thanksgiving here and there is not really any holiday going on this week in England.  Two weeks ago was Dewali (De-vall-ee).  That's the Festival of Lights. They were shooting off fireworks every night for like three weeks leading up to it.  I didn't get any sleep.

This is one of the zone leaders at the dance festival.  His name is Elder Kalabanko.  He's from Ukraine. 

Hi Shanon!  My daughter Angela (Sister Rodriguez) and your son are serving in the same mission and I wanted  to share this picture she sent today. We are in the Rockdale Branch.  This is what her caption for the picture says.  -Merry Christmas to the Round Rock Texas East Stake!! From me and Elder Warburton (Old Settlers Ward)

I wonder if she meant Happy Thanksgiving. She was so excited to find out that Elder Warburton was from Texas, but even more excited when she learned that they are from the same Stake. What a small world.  I am so happy that she has a fellow Texan serving with her.  I hope you enjoy the picture. May you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving.  Sincerely, Norma

16 November 2015 Email

Hello my wonderful friends!

This week was great! Elder Sowah's birthday was on Wednesday. We had dinner with one of the families in the ward on Tuesday to celebrate his birthday. We had red velvet cake. It was super good.

On Thursday we gave a sister in the ward a blessing. Her name is Sister Warburton. She has this disease that kills her immune system, so we had to wash our hands before we could give her the blessing. She gave me a packet of pictures from the town where my name comes from. All Warburtons are from the Manchester area in England.

On Friday we had zone conference. We had a bunch of trainings from the sister training leaders, the zone leaders, the assistants to the president, and President Stevens. It lasted almost the whole day. It was great.

Well, that's it. I guess I'll

end with a spiritual thought.

 4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. (Helaman 10)

As long as you continue to share the word with unwearyingness, you'll be blessed forever, so keep on sharing the gospel!

Love,

Elder Warburton 

I asked Jared to send me a picture of his flat.  He lives in a pretty nice place!

November 9, 2015

Greetings, my fellow Americans. (And non Americans.)

This week was lovely. Elder Sowah baptized Dan Brown and I confirmed him.

Look how happy he is!

I can't remember much else that happened this week, but I'll tell you about a miracle that happened. Elder Sowah and I needed to find one more person to put on date, so Elder Sowah told me to say the first name that came to my head on the count of three. When we counted down we both said James. So now we need to find someone named James.

I guess I'll write a spiritual thought.

34 Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls. (Alma 37)

Never get tired of doing good. 

Love,

 

Elder Warburton 

November 3, 2015

Dear wonderful people,

This week has been amazing. We had dinner appointments nearly everyday during the week!  I feel like I didn't even need to buy groceries this week.

On Monday, we had dinner with Brother Eze and his family. We brought Dan Brown with us. Brother Eze only has missionaries over on Mondays because when he was a missionary, one of the things he missed was family home evening. So he invites us over so we can have a family home evening with his family. We started off with a spiritual thought, then we played some games, told some, jokes and asked some priddles, and ended with dinner. We had this really good spicy pasta with an omelette.

On Tuesday, we went to the Velasquez's house for dinner. We had curry meatballs with this really good rice with peas cooked in them.  It was cooked so that you couldn't even taste them....or Heavenly Father is following through with the promise He gave in D&C section 84:71: "And if any man shall administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them" either one. Then for dessert, we had "brown velvet" cake with yogurt and pears. It was really tasty. Afterwards, we talked about preservatives, cats, honey, jam, and snakes. Elder Sowah is terrified of snakes. He says that snakes are of the devil.

On Wednesday, we were accepted into the mission choir. I'm singing tenor. I was the only one there singing tenor, and there was this really hard part and I had to sight read it. It was fun. We were supposed to have dinner with a member, but they forgot. So we instead fasted and went to the church for Dan Brown's baptismal interview. He will be getting baptized next week Saturday.

Not much happened on Thursday, but we did have sports night and a lesson with an investigator named Aladdin. Aladdin won't get baptized yet because his family is Muslim, and they will socially cast him out if he joins another church. He wants to get baptized and still practice Islam. I hope he can gain the courage and a testimony to join
the church.

On Friday, we had a lunch appointment with a wonderful lady named Sister Wilcox. She brought us to a place called The Harvesters. The Harvesters is kind of like Chilis, but it has a salad/bread bar. I had some proper fish and chips. It was alright. We also gave one of the sister missionaries a blessing.

On Saturday, we had stake conference. We had the entire quorum of the twelve there. Not really. We had a recording of the pre-general conference training and they used bits and pieces to teach us. It was all about keeping the Sabbath day holy.

On Sunday, we went to a pre-conference meeting for less active members, recent converts, and investigators. It was really spiritual hearing about all of these different conversion stories. After that meeting, we had the main session of stake conference. There was a part where all of the missionaries from the Watford stake boar their
testimonies about member missionary work. I'm just going to forward that idea to you all. Help the missionaries out with missionary work.  It really helps.

On Monday, we spent the whole day doing a service project for a sister in the ward. Her house was a total disaster and the bishop and some other members in the ward threw out most of the house and ripped up and replaced the floors in the entire house. We cleaned the back garden and painted the main living room. It was a lot of work. Afterwards, the bishop took us out to eat at this Turkish restaurant. We got a giant plate covered in meat and rice and shared it between the four of us. It was really good.

Well, that was my week. I guess now I'll end with a spiritual thought:

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. (Mosiah 2)

After the service project yesterday, I can definitely say that Heavenly Father was happy that we were doing this project. Even though I was doing hard work all day, I didn't get tired at all until I jumped into bed. I know that God will bless you if you do service for others, even if that service is simply just saying hello to someone.

Well, that's all that I have to say.

I love you all and I hope that this email didn't bore you too much.

Love,

Elder Warburton

Pictures:

Halloween here isn't anything like it is back home. I saw maybe three kids wearing costumes and I didn't see a single kid trick or treating. It was kind of lame. But we did see these cool people on the train.  They were really nice. Elder Sowah asked if he could get a picture with them and they said, "Of course!" That was the best part of the Halloween aspect of Saturday....and yes, Elder Sowah and I dressed up as missionaries for Halloween.